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Four ex-PMs push for green budget

J.P. Moczulski for National Post

Former Prime Minister John Turner, not pictured, joined with his fellow ex-PMs Joe Clark, Kim Campbell and Paul Martin to push for a 'green stimulus'. Brian Mulroney, pictured, did not sign the accord.

Four former prime ministers are urging the Harper government to follow Barack Obama’s lead and use a “green stimulus” to help jump-start the economy.

“It is time to vault Canada into the green economy,” says a statement signed by Former Conservative leaders Joe Clark and Kim Campbell, and Liberals Paul Martin and John Turner to be released Wednesday. “Green stimulus creates jobs and will jump-start Canada’s role in the new global economy.”

The statement comes on the heels of a call Tuesday from leading environmental, union and forest groups urging the federal government to inject billions of dollars into a Green Economy Action Fund to “supercharge growth in the green economy.”

The groups want the upcoming federal budget to include a $41-billion stimulus package over five years to make Canadian homes and buildings more energy efficient, ramp up renewable energy; expand public transit and support cleaner manufacturing.

The one-page statement signed by the former prime ministers does not put a price on the stimulus needed, but says an infusion of spending on green initiatives would create jobs quickly and boost the economy. “In one stroke, green stimulus provides solutions to our biggest problems,” says the statement calling for energy retrofits of homes and buildings, acceleration of renewable energy production and spending on public transit and “low-carbon” infrastructure.

Environmental activist Tzeporah Berman, executive director of PowerUP Canada, who lobbied the former prime ministers to sign the statement, says there is no reason for Canadians to lag behind Americans on the green front. “Barack Obama is planning millions of green jobs,” she says. “Why should Canadians be left behind?”

The Canadian organizations pushing for the multi-billion-dollar stimulus package have more than 850,000 members. The list includes the Canadian Association of 45Plus (CARP), the United Steelworkers, the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), the Pembina Institute, Environmental Defence, ForestEthics and the Forest Products Association of Canada, which represents Canada’s major wood, pulp and paper producers.

Rick Smith, executive director of Environmental Defence, describes the proposed green stimulus package as a “no-brainer,” saying it could fight both the recession and global warming. “There are jobs just waiting to be created and businesses poised to grow,” he says.

Obama has long touted his commitment to clean energy and a “green economy.” He has pledged to double U.S. wind, solar and geothermal generating capacity over three years, and last week his team proposed an economic-stimulus package that includes $20 billion in tax cuts for renewable-energy production and an additional $54 billion of spending to modernize the country’s aging electricity grid, and to make homes, vehicles and buildings more energy efficient.

The Canadian groups are calling for Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to launch a national program that harmonizes with both the U.S. and provincial initiatives.

Their proposed action fund, which the groups say could be financed with loans of $18.6 billion and federal spending of $22.7 billion over five years, calls for retrofitting of government real estate, housing, commercial buildings and accelerating the creation and use of renewable energy and clean technologies.

The groups say some of the money could be raised through “green bonds,” which they say have proved popular in Europe and “provides a safe investment vehicle in times of financial distress, demonstrates government leadership on climate change, and provides a clear, popular policy announcement.”

The Harper government is under pressure from several quarters to take steps to help both the economy and the environment.

Last week the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, a federal agency, and Sustainable Development Technology Canada, a federal corporation, said in a joint report that Canada’s 440,000 commercial buildings are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and could be made much more energy efficient through use of new technologies.

“Strong policy action is needed to pull through ready and waiting technology,’” said Vicky Sharpe, president and CEO of Sustainable Development Technology Canada.

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